Yankees put Sabathia in money trough

CC Sabathia will receive $9.5 million from the New York Yankees before he throws his first official pitch in pinstripes.

His $161 million, seven-year contract includes a $9 million signing bonus, according to details obtained Friday by the Associated Press. By the time the Yankees open at Baltimore on April 6, he already will have received $6 million of that bonus plus $3.5 million of next year’s salary.

This is how it works:

– The signing bonus is payable in three equal installments by Dec. 31 and by March 1 and July 31 next year.

– He will get a $14 million salary in 2009 and $23 million in each of the final six seasons of the deal, the largest contract ever for a pitcher both in total dollars and average salary.

– While most players are paid semimonthly during the six months of the regular season, Sabathia’s salary will be paid in semimonthly installments over all 12 months of the year. That means he will have received six payments of $583,333 before the opener.

Even Sabathia admitted this week that “with the economy being the way it is … the huge amount of money, it was, you know, pretty crazy.”

“But that’s our game, I guess,” he said.

Sabathia’s deal calls for him to get a suite on road trips, a provision also in the contracts of several other major leaguers. He can void the contract after the 2011 season and file for free agency.

New York finalized Sabathia’s contract Thursday along with pitcher A.J. Burnett’s $82.5 million, six-year agreement.

•Angels, Rivera agree: Outfielder Juan Rivera decided to stay with the Los Angeles Angels, agreeing Friday to a $12.75 million, three-year contract.

•Furcal stays with Dodgers: Shortstop Rafael Furcal finalized his three-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, saying he always wanted to return to the team he played with the past three seasons. He passed a physical Friday.

NBA

Celtics unstoppable

Make it 17 in a row for the 17-time NBA champions.

Ray Allen scored 27 points, Kendrick Perkins scored a career-high 25 on 12-of-15 shooting and the Boston Celtics earned their 17th straight victory Friday night by beating the visiting Chicago Bulls 126-108.

The Celtics could tie the longest winning streak in franchise history with a win Sunday night against the New York Knicks.

•Harris lights up old team: Devin Harris dominated the team that traded him, scoring 41 points and helping the Nets ruin Jason Kidd’s return to New Jersey in a 121-97 victory over Dallas.

Harris added 13 assists in thoroughly outplaying Kidd, who spent 61/2 years in New Jersey before the Nets dealt him to Dallas last February for a package highlighted by Harris, who had his second 40-point game during a breakout season.

•Wade, Heat school Lakers: Dwyane Wade got his offensive touch back. More importantly, the Miami Heat brought a level of defense that the Los Angeles Lakers simply hadn’t seen this season.

Wade scored 35 points, including a desperation 3-pointer to close the third quarter, and the Heat held the Lakers to their lowest scoring total this season in knocking off the reigning Western Conference champions 89-87 in Miami.

•Thunder snaps losing skid: Kevin Durant scored 24 points, rookie Russell Westbrook added 19 and Oklahoma City snapped an 11-game home losing streak with a 91-83 victory over Toronto.

•Utah has Pistons’ ticket: In Auburn Hills, Mich., Deron Williams scored 29 points to give Utah a 120-114 win over Detroit, its seventh straight win over the Pistons.

NHL

51 saves for Hiller

At Edmonton, Jonas Hiller matched the Anaheim record with 51 saves, and turned aside three shootout tries, in the Ducks’ 3-2 victory over the Oilers.

Hiller, in goal with Jean-Sebastien Giguere on leave in Montreal following his father’s death, tied the franchise saves record set by Mikhail Shtalenkov against Ottawa in March 1998 and matched by Giguere against Detroit in March 2004.

Corey Perry scored in regulation and added the shootout winner.

•Keith OT goal lifts Hawks: Defenseman Duncan Keith scored 23 seconds into overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks their sixth straight victory, 3-2 over the Flames in Calgary.

•Elias ties Devils record: In Newark, N.J., Patrik Elias had two goals and two assists to help the surging New Jersey Devils beat slumping Ottawa 5-1. He extended his points streak to nine games, and matched John MacLean’s team record with his 169th multipoint game.

Golf

Couples not acting age

Fred Couples may be 49 and his world ranking a meager 175, but he can still hang with the young studs.

Even with a mud-ball bogey on the final hole Friday of the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., he had a 3-under 69 to finish three shots behind Jim Furyk and keep in the mix going into the weekend of Tiger Woods’ event.

Furyk was at 5-under 139, two shots clear of Anthony Kim (70), Camilo Villegas (67) and K.J. Choi (71). Couples and Steve Stricker (71) were another shot behind.

Top 25 women

No. 1 Connecticut cruises

Maya Moore scored 19 points to lead the Huskies (9-0) to an 85-40 win over Northern Colorado (4-6) in the Caribbean Classic in Cancun, Mexico.

•No. 3 Stanford rebounds: Kayla Pedersen had 15 points and 16 rebounds, Jayne Appel had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and the visiting Cardinal rebounded from their loss earlier in the week to Duke with a 78-47 win over South Carolina.

Stanford (8-2) plays No. 11 Tennessee on Sunday, a rematch of last season’s national title game.

Winter sports

Italy’s Heel wins super-G

Werner Heel of Italy won the World Cup super-G and Bode Miller was 17th in the first of four World Cup races in the Italian Dolomites.

•American maintains lead: Anja Paerson of Sweden has won a World Cup super-combined event, and American Lindsey Vonn maintained her overall lead despite skiing off course in the slalom.